Jockey Joe Talamo wins five at Del Mar

DEL MAR  “The day belongs to Joe Talamo,” Del Mar track announcer Trevor Denman said Thursday after the 22-year-old from Marrero, La., crossed the wire on his fifth winner of the day.

“That was a great day,” Talamo said as he walked up to the jockey’s room. “I’ve had five before at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans as a bug boy and five at Hollywood, but never five at Del Mar. It was one of those days when everything worked out. I had great horses. Can’t do it without the horses.”

Talamo, won the first on Beau Royale ($5.20) for trainer Vann Belvoir, the second on The Roan Ranger ($6.40) for Mike Puype, the fifth on Indy Beauty ($12) for Jack Carava, the seventh on Obviously ($8.20) for Mike Mitchell and the eighth on Northern Iowa ($12.60) for Vladimir Cerin.

The win on Obviously was over one mile on the turf course. It was Talamo’s sixth win on the turf this meeting. He has 17 wins, tied with Rafael Bejarano and one shy of leader Garrett Gomez.

“I know Joel Rosario isn’t here, but you can’t take for granted the colony here,” Talamo said. “Gomez is riding unbelievable, and he’s kind of a mentor of mine, anyway. Then there’s Bejarano, Victor (Espinoza), Mike (Smith) and all these guys are doing really good. It’s not like you can go out there and think it’s easy pickings. But I really love it that way. I feel I learn a lot more in the competition.”

He says he’s not doing anything differently riding horses on the turf, but he certainly has figured this course out.

“It’s about getting good horses, and we’ve had some really lucky trips,” Talamo said. “Here at Del Mar it’s really important to save ground, and we’ve been lucky that a lot of holes are opening up, and Scotty (McClellan), my agent, has been getting me some great horses.”

McClellan predicted a big meeting for his young rider. He knew there would be a lot more live horses after the exit of Rosario, who won the Del Mar riding title the last three years but now is riding back East.

“He works harder than anybody,” McClellan said. “Last Saturday he worked 11 horses in the morning and rode nine in the afternoon. It pays off if you’re riding for the right people and on the right horses.”

McClellan feels Talamo’s success on the turf can only be explained by the rider’s style.

“He’s very good on the turf, but he loves the salad bar, too,” McClellan said. “I think he’s just patient. He tries to save ground a lot. He tries to tuck in and save ground, and his style just seems to fit the course. He’s 22 years old, but he’s accomplished so much already. He’s getting better and better every day. He was brought up right, has a great attitude. I’ve never seen him mad. He just has a great outlook on life.”

Notes: Ruben Hernandez, Del Mar’s clerk of scales, has been reassigned after the Del Mar stewards slapped him with a five-day suspension for disorderly conduct and for being intoxicated before the races on Sunday, July 22. The former clerk of scales now is a film analyst and patrol judge, removed from any contact with the jockeys. Charlie McCaul, who handled clerk of scales duties for 11 years on the entire Southern California circuit more than a decade ago, replaced Hernandez. Stewards Scott Chaney and Kim Sawyer said Hernandez’ suspension and reassignment was an agreement arrived at by the DMTC, the stewards and Hernandez. He now is bound by a testing agreement with the California Horse Racing Board and must fulfill requirements the tracks have with the Winners’ Foundation, an organization that helps folks in the racing community overcome addictions and other personal problems. Someone suspected Hernandez was intoxicated before racing began July 22. He was ordered to take a Breathalyzer, blew a .09 and was replaced by McCaul for that day’s racing. The clerk of scales checks all the jockeys weights before they ride and immediately after races.

Trainer Dale Romans says he won’t make a final decision for about a week, but it appears he will ship Dullahan to race here in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic, set for Aug. 26. Romans said he’d like to try the Del Mar Polytrack with his 3-year-old colt. Dullahan won his last race, the Blue Grass Stakes, on the Keeneland Polytrack on April 14 to prep for the Kentucky Derby. He ran third to I’ll Have Another and Bodemeister in the Derby, skipped the Preakness Stakes and then finished a disappointing seventh in the Belmont Stakes. He was fourth in the Haskell Invitational on Sunday at Monmouth Park.

Trainer Peter Miller, who has eight wins and is second to Doug O’Neill’s 10 wins in the trainer standings, said will enter two of his four talented fillies, Heir Kitty and Miss Empire, in the Best Pal Stakes on Sunday. “I have four good fillies, and I don’t want to run them all together. I’ll run those two in the Best Pal and then run Bares Tripper and Speedinthruthecity in the Sorrento Stakes. We’re heavy on fillies. And I think the fillies are as strong as the colts are right now. If you’re going to ever do it, do it as a 2-year-old when they’re young and the fillies are more mature.”